Travel Travel Travel!

Wow!  The long anticipated journey is over!  The past two days have been full of travel, and new sights all along the way.  My flights were uneventful for the most part.  I met one of the other interns (Kevin) at the Miami airport and we took the same flight to Quito.  When we arrived, we were greeted by three really nice people who work for Reach Beyond.  We then waited for the rest of the crew to arrive.  That night we spent in a hotel about 10 min from the airport.

This morning we woke up and ate a lovely breakfast of eggs and toast (not eaten in my quarters).  We then loaded up our luggage and hit the road for Shell.  If I've learned anything about Ecuador it's that we are in the mountains, and I mean IN the mountains.  There were roads that ran on the side of cliffs and tunnels that dug through the sides of mountains.  After the curve filled, scenic drive of about 5 hours we found ourselves in the nice little town of Shell.  We transported our luggage to the various places we would be staying (guys in a house which is across a rather legit cable bridge), and then hung out until dinner was served at the McFarland's house.  They were very hospitable and we had a great time.  Finally to end the evening the other two guys helped Eric Fogg (the lead engineer in Shell) with his side project of fixing up a motorcycle.  While they occupied themselves with gears and gizmos, I took the task of entertaining Jacob, Eric's 3 year old foster child.  We played catch and caused trouble for almost two hours.  Now I'm just relaxing a bit before bed and orientation starts bright and early tomorrow!  Thank you all for the many prayers and encouraging words.

In Him,

Sam Hodges

Jacob

The Engineering interns in front of our hotel Rancho San Carlos 

I couldn't help but imitate the sign (don't judge)

The team along with Pat and Denise two of the ladies who
picked us up along with an awesome waterfall in the background.